According to a memo being circulated by the office of the Senate majority whip, the vote is scheduled for Tuesday, July 8. Three amendments will be considered: One sponsored by Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dodd, and Feingold to strip the immunity provision; one offered by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) that would direct federal courts to deny immunity if the surveillance in which they participated is determined to have been in violation of the Constitution; and one offered by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), which would suspend action on the telecom lawsuits until after the submission of a report by the inspector general on the scope of the President's surveillance program.

In politics as in comedy, timing is everything. The House compromise brokered by Hoyer was unveiled just one day before the chamber voted to approve it—and it seems likely that this was in part motivated by a desire to get a bill on the president's desk before the "strange bedfellows" coalition of Ron Paul Republicans and privacy-conscious Democrats that has emerged to oppose the deal could fully mobilize.

That said, the odds of ultimately blocking the FISA Amendments Act seem slim indeed. The current legislation looks marginally less offensive than the bill that already sailed through the Senate by a wide margin, and it appears that this version will enjoy still more support.